DISCLOSURE: THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS,MEANING That I GET A COMMISSION IF YOU DECIDE TO MAKE A PURCHASE THROUGH MY LINKS, AT NO COST TO YOU. PLEASE READ FULL DISCLOSURE HERE
A lot of people hate selling (myself included).
But, the truth is that if you want to earn more money at your job or in your business, you’ve got to get better at selling.
If you are working at a full-time job, you need to learn how to “sell” yourself to get a promotion or a pay raise.
If you are running your own business, you need to learn how to sell more of your products or services.
So, it’s in your best interest to change your attitude about selling.
To help you do that, let’s talk about why many of us hate selling in the first place.
Have you ever received unsolicited calls from telemarketers?
Annoying, right?
Every time I get such a call, I would add it to my ‘Blocked’ list straight away.
Have you ever been deceived by salespeople who never deliver on their promise?
I have.
Maybe you too have.
And it’s exactly such unpleasant past experience that led us to have the belief that ALL salespeople are either annoying or dishonest.
Instinctively, we guard against them and never want to become one of them.
So, how do we change our attitude towards selling?
We need to replace our old belief with a new one.
You see, if you think about selling as helping people solve their problems, will you feel more comfortable about selling?
Forcing people to buy products that they don’t really need is NOT cool.
But, if you have the best product or if your service can solve people’s problems, then it is your fiduciary duty to let them know and make sure they get what’s best for them.
With the new belief and mindset, you will see selling in a more positive light.
Now, the next step is to learn how to be good at selling.
To be good at selling, we need to understand know how to persuade and influence people.
One of the best books you can read about persuasion is called “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” by Professor Robert Cialdini.
Inside his books, he mentioned six key principles of influence – Reciprocity, Commitment & Consistence, Social Proof, Likability, Authority & Scarcity.
Here, we are going to look at three of them and how they are being used by businesses in real life.
- Social Proof
Have you ever bought a product from Amazon because many people bought it and left a good review?
Probably yes.
That’s the power of social proof.
And that’s why you often see that businesses post a lot of testimonials from happy clients on their website.
It serves an importance purpose which is giving potential clients the confidence to buy from them.
- Authority
We trust the opinion of those who are authority in certain area and follow their instruction.
That’s why companies selling skincare products get dermatologists to endorse and recommend their products.
So, partnering up with experts and authority figures in your niche is a good way to lend credibility to your products you are selling.
- Scarcity
If we perceive that a product is scarce, we have a higher urgency to get it. On the contrary, we will delay our buying decision if we think that there is a lot of supply and we can get it anytime in the future.
In real life, there are a lot of businesses that are using this principle to get more sales.
For example, shops will send out discount coupons that are only valid for a short period of time.
So, here’s what I would like you to do. Look around you, do you spot any persuasion strategy that is being used by businesses in real life?
Leave a Reply